Saturday, 17 October 2015

Anxiety Coping Techniques

Hey my lovelies

Anxiety... What a word with so many meaning to so many of
us. A lot of you reading this if you are anything like me, then even the word
anxiety makes me anxious, as it gives me the stark reminder of what I like many
of you go through day in day out.

So what actually is anxiety??

To me and you, anxiety can be many things. It can be the
feeling of being panicked or worried, on edge, uneasy, tearful and not being in
control or able to relax to name only a few things. It can manifest itself
physically as well as mentally.

Physically you can get short of breath, a pounding heartbeat,
flutters in your stomach, dizzy, sweaty and chest tightness. All these can lead
to a panic attack. Mentally it can make you nervous, on edge, angry, teary and
everything in between.

Anxiety can also be a symptom of other conditions including
panic disorders, depression, chronic illness and post traumatic stress.
Obviously anxiety can play a major role in many illnesses and if you think your
anxiety is coming from something I urge you to seek help.

As you can see already, anxiety is a very complex illness
and without a doubt this is something I have found out myself. There is no way to describe it and when you
are in the grips of it, it can take over every cell of your body. This for me
is why I decided to write this post on how I try and cope with my anxiety
issues. My anxiety has been up and down for many years since childhood, but
since I took ill at university over 10 years ago the anxiety has worsened. Over
the years it has been hard at times to cope with it, but then others I have
been able to cope. We had a serious car crash at xmas last year, you can see
some of my updates from it in my you tube channel. This picture was actually taken the day of the crash at the Xmas Market in belfast, and my heart drops every time i think of what could have been.

www.youtube.com/passionsandpreening
and since that my anxiety has got to a level that it effects my whole
life. It leaves me not wanting to leave
the house a lot of the time or get into a car. I try and use the following techniques
regularly to help myself. Obviously not
all of these ways of coping will help or interest you, but there might be something
that you want to try.

Medication

Without a doubt I needed the medication when I fell to my
worst point soon after the accident. I now take a combined anti depressant and
anxiety tablet daily and when I need it I take extra diazepam. I totally
understand medication will not be for everyone but personally I felt I was at
my lowest and at that time it was the best decision for me. It was a decision
that was not taken lightly and was thoroughly discussed with my GP.

Counselling/Therapy

Maybe counselling or therapy is something that you feel you
could benefit from. There are lots of great charities eg Mind that can help
find a private therapist, or you can talk with your GP about a referral for
therapy. Lots of people get great help from therapy and it is something I have
been referred for the anxiety, unfortunately like everywhere our NHS waiting
lists are long and stretched for these services, but I am happy I took the
first step in getting the referral.

Visualisation

When I start to feel anxious I feel that just taking a few
minutes to sit and think of my happy place or times where I wasn’t anxious is a
great way to detach myself from the anxiety and let myself be free even for a
few minutes. Decide what your happy place is and just clear your mind and think
about this place. Obviously if you are in the full grips of an attack this will
be extremely hard to do, but I find if I can do this when anxiety is just
starting it has helped to stop the attack.

Don’t bully yourself for feeling the way you do, instead
acknowledge it

Personally when I am in the complete hold of anxiety, I get
very hard on myself. I tell myself things like, don’t be silly, snap out of it,
catch yourself on, but a while ago a really good friend of mine told me to stop
and actually acknowledge how I was feeling. I try now and talk to myself and
repeat things like, it’s ok to have these attacks, you will get passed it, you
will be ok. Allowing myself that acknowledgment has really helped me.

Colouring in

Yes you did just read that right! Recently adult colouring
in books have become very popular and hubby bought me one in our local
Waterstones not that long ago. So now at night I try and do a little piece of a
page and I don’t work in colour patterns, I just go with the colours I fancy at
that time. It lets your head get out of that negative space and it helps me
focus my mind on the book and not the anxiety.

Take a bath

One thing I hear so many people talk about is how nice a
bath with a few candles and a lush bath bomb is. Unfortunately we don’t have a
bath here but what I do like to do is have a shower in the evening and use a
body wash with lavender in it to relax me.

Pamper yourself

Get a nice face mask on, paint your nails or maybe just
cuddle up on the sofa with a cosy blanket, cuppa and film. I think taking some
time out for you is really beneficial when it comes to managing anxiety, as
sometimes our lives get so busy we just go through the motions. Taking time to
pamper myself has really helped me relax.

Take a walk or do some exercise

Physical activity releases endorphins which are the body’s
natural feel good factor and these help to reduce stress levels and in turn may
help your anxiety problems. For me heavy exercise isn’t an option but even if I
get 5 minutes in the fresh air it really helps.
The other night I was extremely anxious and I knew I needed out into the
air, all I done was walk not even 5 mins round our avenue, but taking some big
deep breaths in and slowly walking really helped and I was able to refocus on
feeling ok.

Writing your feelings down and binning them

I never really understood how beneficial this could be till
this year. Any counselling I had in the past had talked about using this method
for my depression but I never knew it could really to help with my anxiety. I
tried it a couple of times after the accident and it really helped. It wasn’t a
nice well written piece of work, but it was raw and emotional, questioning why
and how. Then when I finished it I ripped it to shreds and binned it, and
whilst binning it I focused on letting go of the questions and all of the fears
and negativity surrounding the accident.
I wouldn’t say it helped everything at all, but what it did do was give
me a safe outlet to be able to share all my feelings.

Breathe

This might sound like a flippant statement to end on, but if
you are anything like me, when my breathing starts to go from the anxiety I
have found myself holding my breath not realising I am doing it. So now I
really try and focus on taking long deep breaths in then out my mouth. When in the grips of an attack you won’t be
getting as much o2 in as you need so this helps this aspect, but what it also
does is gives you something to focus on. I really try and work on my breathing
as I feel it has helped loads.

So there you have it, just a few ways I use to try and
control this rotten illness. Be kind to
yourself, look after yourself and always remember you can get through it

I've found the colouring in books very helpful for me too. If I'm upset after a long day, I sit down to colour! Walks outside are great for calming the mind too, but I ALWAYS forget my breathing techniques when I need them most. xZoe | www.ibelieveinromeo.com

Hi guys! I am a 30 something girl in this crazy world of blogging! I love all things beauty, plus size fashion, lifestyle and lots of things in between. This is my little piece of the internet, where I can be me, and I am loving my journey so far, come say hello!! I am PR friendly and welcome the opportunity to do reviews or attend events xx